Aircraft Loses Propeller During Flight

Passengers on a Great Barrier Airlines flight watched in horror as a propeller came off in mid-air, smashing a window on their aircraft and ripping a door off.

"It was like an explosion going off inside the plane," one told the Herald yesterday. "The propeller came off and hit the side of the plane.

"Both propeller blades came off — the whole thing just destroyed itself. It just completely self-destructed. A door got ripped off and the side of the plane got smashed in — we all got covered in glass."